During the first five months of 2025, Ukraine recorded a record number of animal cruelty cases — 386. This is 3.7 times more than in the same period of 2024, when there were 105 such cases. Relevant data made public open data service Opendatabot.
Analysts indicate that the previous annual high was 220 proceedings and was recorded in 2020.
“The rise in animal cruelty prosecutions is not about more violence, but about less silence. Thanks to education, available legal tools and support from community organizations, more people are reporting violations and acting within the law.” – said Anastasiya Gevchuk, lawyer-analyst of the legislation of the animal rescue and environmental organization UAnimals.
The largest jump in the number of cases was observed in the spring of 2025. In April, 213 new proceedings were opened — more than in the whole of 2024. By comparison, at the beginning of this year, an average of 21 proceedings were registered each month, which was in line with the usual level of previous years.
In May, the number of new cases fell to 110, but this figure is still five times higher than last year’s average. Despite the general increase in the number of cases, proceedings began to be investigated more effectively. Although this year the courts have already passed 20 verdicts under the article on animal cruelty (for comparison: 43 – for the whole of 2024, 65 – in 2023), due to the general increase in the number of cases, the share of those that reached the court decreased: from 13-15% in previous years to 4% in 2025.
